Bo Xilai One Step Closer to Judicial Punishment

In a single sentence published at nearly 10 a.m. on Friday Oct. 26 Beijing time, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece Xinhua announced that disgraced official Bo Xilai had been dismissed from his position in the Communist Party’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, a necessary step on the way to putting him in front of a judge.

The decision was made by the Standing Committee of the Chongqing City National People’s Congress, which Bo Xilai had ostensibly “represented” in Beijing during the Party’s political conclaves.

The step was a formality on the way to prosecution, according to Heng He, a political commentator with NTD Television, a New York-based Chinese broadcaster.

“Before he is handed to the judicial authorities his representative status with the People’s Congress has to be terminated, as a way of removing immunity,” Heng He said. NPC members cannot be prosecuted, per regime custom.

The Chongqing City NPC did the honors because they are the body that “elected” him, Heng He said.

“This rumor has circulated for a week already,” Heng He said. “This just confirms it.”

Editor’s Note: When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing to participate in the persecution any longer. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.

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